Greek officials and the country’s creditor representatives reached an agreement last night on the future of IPTO, the power grid operator, which, according to local sources, will entail a full break-away of the operator from its parent company PPC, the main power utility. As a first step, all of the operator’s equity will be transferred to the Greek state, which, in the procedure to follow, will maintain a 51 percent stake of IPTO. The other 49 percent will be sold.

Part of the minority stake in the operator will be offered to investors through the bourse while a separate proportion will also be offered to a certified European transmission system operator (TSO) through a tender.

As for IPTO’s management, an obstacle during the negotiations, a combined solution has been reached, through which the state will assume the task with minority shareholder support. The majority of the board’s members will be appointed by the state, while the choice for managing director will require approval from both the state and minority shareholders.

Also, PPC’s compensation process for the loss of its subsidiary will be far swifter than had originally been planned. The power utility will receive direct payments of the amounts to result from the sale of the 49 stake of IPTO, both through the bourse and the tender procedure. IPTO will be evaluated by an international evaluation company.

Payment to PPC for the 51 percent equity share of IPTO to be taken over by the state is expected to be a lengthier process. However, certain direct benefits will be offered, such as the transfer of debts from the parent company to the subsidiary.

Barring any unexpected developments, the finalized agreement’s document is expected to be released today, energypress has been informed.